This particular NYT story just has the stench of a “swift boat veterans” operation.

That seems like a wildly inaccurate comparison. I'm old enough to remember the Swiftboating and had to double check but comparing his actual exes to folks who weren't there just doesn't make much sense. To refresh your memory, Swiftboating was super sketchy because, as Wikipedia notes:

These claims caused tremendous controversy during the election, particularly because the organization's members had not been in a place to assess Kerry,

To the larger, meh, I don't care, well, to each their own. I personally feel that some of the physical shit to partners about a dozen years ago is a marker of character and some shit I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. Also having what you know to be a Nazi tattoo and covering it up when you have aspirations of office is, at best, icky.

Were he Republican, I'd be pretty unimpressed. Were he dating a friend or family member, I would damn well be looking for any suspicious bruise and be ready to do something unadvisable if I saw one.